gtx 580http://www.maximumpc.com/taxonomy/term/15280/
enGigabyte GTX 580 Super Overclock Reviewhttp://www.maximumpc.com/gigabyte_gtx_580_super_overclock_review
<!--paging_filter--><h3>Will three fans enable Gigabyte to capture the single-GPU performance crown?</h3>
<p>We found the <a href="http://www.maximumpc.com/article/reviews/asus_matrix_gtx_580_platinum_review" target="_blank">Asus Matrix GTX 580 Platinum</a> that we reviewed in the November 2011 issue to be pretty badass: It’s a solid, factory-overclocked card that’s impressively easy to push even harder. But it’s also three slots wide and requires two 8-pin PCIe power connectors. Gigabyte’s GTX 580 Super Overclock (model GV-N580SO-15L) takes Nvidia’s GPU even further, pumping the core from a stock 772MHz all the way to 855MHz, and the card’s 1.5GB of GDDR5 memory from a stock 1,002MHz to 1,025MHz (the Matrix GTX 580 comes out of the box with its GPU running at 816MHz and its memory at 1,002MHz). And the Gigabyte takes up only two slots and uses just a single 8-pin power connector.</p>
<p>Gigabyte, like Asus, provides software to help you overclock the card even more, but Gigabyte’s card lacks the other engineering amenities that Asus provides, including voltage control, insta-max fan speed, and reset-to-factory-settings buttons. This renders Gigabyte’s offering less forgiving when it comes to pushing the envelope. The Super OC ships with three cooling fans, which must be better than the two on the Matrix, right? Well, the card remained cool enough during our benchmarks, but we also found it to be noisier under load than the Matrix card.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a class="thickbox" href="/files/u139222/gigabyte580superoc-big.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="/files/u139222/gigabyte580superoc-small.jpg" width="600" height="398" /></a><br /><strong>Gigabyte's GTX 580 Super Overclock requires just two expansion slots and one 8-pin PCIe power connection.</strong></p>
<p>With those thoughts in mind, let’s discuss performance: Gigabyte’s card edged out Asus’s, but it was by no means a clean sweep: the Asus Matrix card won several benchmark categories, with Unigine Heaven being the most notable. Several other results—including Just Cause 2 and Metro 2033—were essentially ties. So the Gigabyte’s performance is pretty good, but it’s not quite as over-the-top as we had expected. Also, take a look at the difference in power consumption. This is where Asus’s careful binning of GTX 580 GPUs comes in: The Matrix consumes much less juice than the Super Overclock, which likely will leave you more headroom for overclocking.</p>
<p>All these factors are reflected in the card’s street price, which is $10 less than the Asus (and Gigabyte was offering a $20 rebate at press time). So the Super Overclock delivers fewer features and a little less performance and headroom, but also a lower price tag. You’ll need to decide which factors are most important to you.</p>
<p><strong>$520, <a href="http://www.gigabyte.com" target="_blank">www.gigabyte.com</a></strong></p>
http://www.maximumpc.com/gigabyte_gtx_580_super_overclock_review#comments2012gigabytegtx 580gtx 580 super overclockHardwareHardwarejanuary 2012nvidiaReviewsVideocardsFrom the MagazineThu, 26 Jan 2012 17:32:46 +0000Loyd Case22200 at http://www.maximumpc.comAsus Mars II Reviewhttp://www.maximumpc.com/article/hardware/asus_mars_ii_review
<!--paging_filter--><h3>Two GTX 580s, one gargantuan videocard</h3>
<p>Imagine a graphics card weighing 5.25 pounds with three (yes, three) 8-pin PCI Express power connectors. Now imagine this card taking up three PCI Express slots and almost sucking the life out of an 850W power supply.</p>
<p>That may be one reason Asus named this card after the Roman god of war. It’s probably the most powerful single graphics card we’ve tested, but that power comes at a substantial cost. You’ll need the right type of motherboard and case, too—one where you can install a three-slot-wide card that’s 12.25 inches long and 5 inches tall.</p>
<p>Did we mention that it also costs $1,400?</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a class="thickbox" href="/files/u139222/asusmarsii-big.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="/files/u139222/asusmarsii-600.jpg" width="600" height="429" /></a><br /><strong>The gigantic Mars II packs two 12cm fans and set a new record in our Lab for power consumption.</strong></p>
<p>Now that you’ve recovered from the heart palpitations induced by the price, let’s talk about the real meat of this card. What Asus engineers have done is build a full GTX 580 SLI combo on a single card. We’re not talking about a namby-pamby GTX 590, which sacrifices clock speed to get a reasonable-size card. The Mars II is a pull-out-the-stops, full-steam-ahead GTX 580 SLI on a stick. And the cores aren’t just any 580 cores, either; they’re top-binned GPU dies that run at 782MHz—faster than run-of-the-mill GTX 580 chips. The 3GB of GDDR5 ticks along at 1,002MHz.</p>
<p>Asus built the card using its DirectCU thermal system with a pair of 12cm fans. Despite the monster nature of the card, it was surprisingly quiet under load—somewhat noisier than the GTX 590, but notably less so than the Radeon HD 6990. The card uses 21-phase power. As with the Matrix GTX 580 we reviewed last month, the card ships with Asus’s GPU Tweak utility, one of the easiest tools we’ve used for GPU overclocking.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a class="thickbox" href="/files/u139222/asusmarsii-backports-big.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="/files/u139222/asusmarsii-backports-small.jpg" width="249" height="480" /></a><br /><strong>Double‑wide GPU? That’s for wimps. The Mars II will swallow three slots on your motherboard.</strong></p>
<p>So if this monster can actually run, then it should run at full SLI speeds. (Asus claims that the binned GPU parts can run even higher—above 800MHz—but given that we nearly melted the PSU in our test system, we avoided pushing the card.) As is, it’s no slouch in performance, but we were anxious to put it against a GeForce GTX 590 and AMD Radeon HD 6990.</p>
<p>The mythical Radeon HD 6990 won in just two areas: power consumption and Just Cause 2. The GTX 590 eked out a single benchmark win in Battle Forge, which is likely CPU-bound, since the differences overall are small. The Mars II swept the field in everything else. So you really can get SLI on a single card, if you’re willing to pay a premium.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a class="thickbox" href="/files/u139222/asusmarsii-powerports-big.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="/files/u139222/asusmarsii-powerports-small.jpg" width="620" height="312" /></a><br /><strong>You'll need a PSU that can supply three 8-pin power plugs to run the Mars II. The little red button manually forces all fans to full throttle.</strong></p>
<p>That premium, by the way, includes the right power supply and case. Our Corsair TX850W survived the experience, but the 785W that the Mars II consumed under load set a Lab record for a single graphics card.</p>
<p>Clearly this card isn’t for everyone. The massive size, power draw, and price will discourage all but the most fanatical gamers. But the Mars II will appeal to those with the moolah, the system to handle it, and the desire to have the shiniest toy. But get in line—Asus will only make about 2,000 of these behemoths.</p>
<p><strong>$1,400, <a href="http://www.asus.com" target="_blank">www.asus.com</a></strong></p>
http://www.maximumpc.com/article/hardware/asus_mars_ii_review#commentsasusdual gpugeforcegpugtx 580Hardwarenvidia2011ReviewsDecember 2011VideocardsFrom the MagazineMon, 14 Nov 2011 17:05:00 +0000Loyd Case20600 at http://www.maximumpc.comAsus Matrix GTX 580 Platinum Reviewhttp://www.maximumpc.com/asus_matrix_gtx_580_platinum_review
<!--paging_filter--><h3>The ultimate GTX 580 is one big muthah</h3>
<p>The Asus Matrix GTX 580 Platinum is quiet, fast, and really, really easy to overclock. It's also massive.</p>
<p>How massive? When we got the box, we thought Asus had shipped us a motherboard by mistake because the box was so large.</p>
<p>The size of the pacage is a clue to the size of the card itself. Asus builds a variant of its DirectCU II dual-fan technology onto the GTX 580, resulting in a card that's fully three expansion slots wide. If you ever plan on running two of these in SLI mode, you'll have to pick your motherboard carefully.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a class="thickbox" href="/files/u139222/asusgtx580-big.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="/files/u139222/asusgtx580-480.jpg" width="483" height="480" /></a><br /><strong>Asus's Republic of Gamers Matrix GTX 580 is three slots wide, takes dual 8-pin connectors, and overclocks like nobody's business.</strong></p>
<p>It's not just about the cooling, though. To get chips that will clock up, Asus cherry-picks the GPUs that get built onto the Platinum version of the Matrix GTX 580 (the company also sells a lower-clocked version). This card also requires two PCIe 8-pin power connectors—one more than the standard GTX 580. However, it's worth nothing that at the card's 816MHz core clock—not quite 6 percent above the stock 772MHz—this is one quiet GTX 580. With the case cover on, we could barely hear the fans spin up under full load. Even when we overclocked the card to 906MHz (more on that in a bit), the fan noise was quite low.</p>
<p>The Matrix card offers some cool amenities. First, it's got manual transmission—there are buttons on the side of the card that allow you to manually adjust the voltage on the fly. There's another, larger button that runs the cooling fans at full speed when pressed. At full speed, the fans do get pretty loud, so use this sparingly, and only with extreme overclocks. One last button allows you to completely reset the card to its factory defaults (816MHz core, 1002MHz memory) if you've gone overboard with your overclocking attempts.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a class="thickbox" href="/files/u139222/asusgtx580-knobs-big.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="/files/u139222/asusgtx580-knobs-600.jpg" width="600" height="399" /></a><br /><strong>You can manually change voltage on the fly by pressing the + or - button. A pair of red/green LEDs adjacent to the PCIe power connectors warn you if you've forgotten to connect power (or if the power connectors are loose). Green means the card is gettign sufficient power.</strong></p>
<p>As with most high-end GPUs, the Matrix GTX 580 Platinum ships with overclocking software. The Asus GPU Tweak is one of the easiest such tools we've used. In its default state, the voltage and clock speeds are locked, so if you increase GPU core clocks, the voltage increases to maintain proper current. You decouple these if you want maximum manual control.</p>
<p>As an experiment, we pumped up the core clock to 906MHz and memory clock to 1,015MHz. The core voltage went up from 1050mv to 1113mv. It doesn't seem like much, but it's worth noting that the system power draw under our full-load test increased from 369W to 420W. That's why Asus ships this puppy with two 8-pin power connectors. Asus claims that it's hit more than 1GHz on a GTX 580 just using the Matrix 580's air cooling. Note that you can actually burn the new settings into the BIOS, but the safe-mode button will rewrite them if you get into trouble.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a class="thickbox" href="/files/u139222/asusgtx580-interior-big.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="/files/u139222/asusgtx580-interior-600.jpg" width="600" height="399" /></a><br /><strong>The text on the top fin lights up and changes color depending on system load.</strong></p>
<p>We tested performance at the default 816MHz core/1,002MHz memory and the 906MHz core/1,015 memory clock speed settings. The result was an eye opener.</p>
<p>Now, 906MHz is more than 17 percent higher than Nvidia's reference clock speed. The card was completely, utterly stable at those speeds—and pretty quiet, as well. And as the numbers show, we saw fairly substantial performance gains in many of our benchmarks.</p>
<p>The Matrix GTX 580 Platinum does cost more than your average GTX 580, coming in at roughly $530 versus about $480 for an EVGA GTX 580 SC. But for your $50, you get lower noise, great performance, and impressive overclockability—if you're willing to lose one more expansion slot in the process.</p>
<p><strong>$535, <a href="http://www.asus.com" target="_blank">www.asus.com</a></strong></p>
http://www.maximumpc.com/asus_matrix_gtx_580_platinum_review#commentsasusgeforcegtx 580Hardwarenvidia2011November 2011ReviewsVideocardsFrom the MagazineMon, 26 Sep 2011 19:33:11 +0000Loyd Case20236 at http://www.maximumpc.comSneak a Peek at EVGA's GeForce GTX 580 Classifed (Final Revision)http://www.maximumpc.com/article/news/sneak_peek_evgas_geforce_gtx_580_classifed_final_revision
<!--paging_filter--><p><img src="/files/u69/gtx_580_classified.jpg" width="228" height="118" style="float: right;" />EVGA has been tweaking the design of its upcoming GeForce GTX 580 Classified videocard for a few weeks now, offering up the <a href="http://www.evga.com/forums/tm.aspx?&amp;m=1103387&amp;mpage=1">first sneak peek</a> back in early July. Yesterday evening, EVGA Product Manager Jacob Freeman uploaded a pic of the shipping version to his <a href="https://plus.google.com/102886105218466812433/posts/EiMJmRoVjUt">Google+ account</a>, which looks very similar to initial design, only gnarlier.</p>
<p>Only a front shot of the final revision is available, but if everything else remains unchanged, the Classified version will ship with triple power input connectors, including two 8-pin PCI-E connectors and a single 6-pin PCI-E connector (hat should give overclocking enthusiasts plenty of power to play with); a 14+3 phase PWM; voltage status LEDs; 3-way and 4-way SLI support; a dual BIOS; and high quality capacitors. In other words, the internal design should be every bit as beastly as its outer appearance, and then some (see photo gallery below).</p>
<p>No word on price.</p>
<p>Image Credit: EVGA</p>
http://www.maximumpc.com/article/news/sneak_peek_evgas_geforce_gtx_580_classifed_final_revision#commentsBuild a PCclassifiedevgageforcegpugtx 580HardwarenvidiavideocardNewsWed, 17 Aug 2011 21:38:41 +0000Paul Lilly19931 at http://www.maximumpc.comPNY’s Liquid Cooled Graphics Card Wear an All-in-One Hat, Keeps CPU Chilly Toohttp://www.maximumpc.com/article/news/pny%E2%80%99s_liquid_cooled_graphics_card_wear_all--one_hat_keeps_cpu_chilly_too
<!--paging_filter--><p><img src="/files/u69/pny_lcs_580.jpg" width="228" height="171" style="float: right;" />Liquid cooling can be a scary proposition if you've only ever played with air. When it's your first time diving into the depths of liquid cooling, you can't help but envision a worst case scenario, one in which you end up accidentally soaking your motherboard and other pricey components with H20. Such horrific scenarios are becoming less of a concern as companies launch all-in-one liquid cooling setups, such as what you'll find on PNY's new XLR8 Liquid Cooled Graphics series.</p>
<p>To get the LCS party started, PNY unveiled its XLR8 Liquid Cooled GeForce GTX 580 graphics card in two flavors, one with a CPU cooling block attached and one without. Both come equipped with an all-in-one LCS provided by none other than Asetek, the same company whose LCS footprint spans everywhere from OEM systems to rebadged CPU coolers.</p>
<p>"Designed to increase performance while reducing noise and temperature, PNY’s Liquid Cooled Graphics offers the fastest factory-overclocked card currently on the market at 857 MHz," <a href="http://www3.pny.com/NewsEvents/PDFS/PNY_Launches_GeForce_Liquid_Cooled_Graphics_Cards.pdf">said Nicholas Mauro (PDF)</a>, senior marketing manager, PC components for PNY. "The simple all-in-one design offers a powerful, yet easy to install and cost-effective gaming solution that’s backed by the PNY warranty. This highly anticipated graphics option will enable more enthusiast gamers to experience gaming in a whole new way."</p>
<p>If you were to put PNY's new LCS cards in the cage with a GTX 580 based on Nvidia's reference design, PNY says its model would wallop the reference card with 10 percent faster performance while running up to 30 percent cooler and quieter.</p>
<p>PNY's Liquid Cooled GTX 580 will set you back $580, or $650 for the model with a CPU block attached.</p>
<p>Image Credit: PNY</p>
http://www.maximumpc.com/article/news/pny%E2%80%99s_liquid_cooled_graphics_card_wear_all--one_hat_keeps_cpu_chilly_too#commentsBuild a PCcoolinggeforcegraphics cardgtx 580Hardwarelcsliquid coolingnvidiapnyvideocardxlr8NewsWed, 17 Aug 2011 14:42:42 +0000Paul Lilly19923 at http://www.maximumpc.comEVGA Teases GeForce GTX 580 Classifiedhttp://www.maximumpc.com/article/news/evga_teases_geforce_gtx_580_classified
<!--paging_filter--><p><img src="/files/u69/geforce_580_classified.jpg" width="228" height="165" style="float: right;" />EVGA's Jacob Freeman decided to post a <a href="http://www.evga.com/forums/tm.aspx?&amp;m=1103387&amp;mpage=1">handful of pictures</a> of the company's upcoming GeForce GTX 580 Classified videocard. This beastly looking graphics card sports a funky heatsink/fan design and several high end goodies for overclockers that you've come to expect from EVGA's Classified line.</p>
<p>Freeman didn't offer up any details like clockspeeds or price, but you can glean a fair amount of info from the pics alone. The card has a dedicated 6-pin power connector for GDDR5 memory, voltage indicator LEDs, voltage read points, dual switchable BIOS to help overcome the 580's LN2 cold bug, two 8-ping power connectors, solid state chokes, and an OC mode switch.</p>
<p>Currently the fastest of EVGA's seven GTX 580 cards is the <a href="http://www.evga.com/products/moreInfo.asp?pn=015-P3-1589-AR&amp;family=GeForce%20500%20Series%20Family&amp;sw=">FTW Hydro Copper 2</a> edition with the GPU clocked at 850MHz and GDDR5 memory at 4196MHz.</p>
<p>Image Credit: EVGA</p>
http://www.maximumpc.com/article/news/evga_teases_geforce_gtx_580_classified#commentsBuild a PCclassifiedevgageforcegtx 580HardwarenvidiavideocardNewsWed, 06 Jul 2011 16:02:37 +0000Paul Lilly19322 at http://www.maximumpc.comAsus Launches ROG Matrix GTX 580 Graphics Card for Overclockershttp://www.maximumpc.com/article/news/asus_launches_rog_matrix_gtx_580_graphics_card_overclockers
<!--paging_filter--><p><img src="/files/u69/asus_matrix_gtx580.jpg" width="228" height="175" style="float: right;" />Asus today <a href="http://www.asus.com/News/YxISweHtV3OMku2u/">announced</a> the launch of its new ROG (Republic of Gamers) Matrix GTX 580 videocard. It's an aggressive looking graphics card that knows nothing of stock clocks, standard cooling, or anything else that has to do with Nvidia's reference design. Instead, it comes overclocked from the factory and sports a dual-fan cooling solution and OC-friendly parts and tools that encourages users to push things as far as they'll go.</p>
<p>The ROG Matrix GTX 580 comes clocked at 816MHz (up from 772MHz stock) and packs 1.5GB of GDDR5 memory running at 4.8GHz (up from 4GHz). That's a pretty good jump over stock clocks right off the bat, but if there's even more headroom available, Asus does everything it can to help you find it.</p>
<p>&nbsp;It starts with the dual-fan DirectCU II cooling solution that puts copper heatpipes in direct contact with the GPU. The sound dampened fans pull 600 percent more air across the card's heatsinks than a reference design, resulting in 20 percent lower temperatures, Asus says.</p>
<p>Other overclocking-friendly features include 19-phase Super Alloy Power components; a multi-colored Matrix LED load indicator; overclocking hardware tools like TweakIt and ProbeIT embedded onto the redesigned PCB; bundled GPU Tweak Utility that includes not only the ability to control clock frequency, voltage, and fan speed, but also features in-game video recording and live firmware and driver updates; and a Safe Mode button to reset everything back to normal should something go terribly wrong.</p>
<p>No word yet on price or availability.</p>
<p>Image Credit: Asus</p>
http://www.maximumpc.com/article/news/asus_launches_rog_matrix_gtx_580_graphics_card_overclockers#commentsasusBuild a PCgeforcegraphics cardgtx 580HardwarematrixnvidiaRepublic of GamersROGvideocardNewsMon, 06 Jun 2011 14:48:00 +0000Paul Lilly18883 at http://www.maximumpc.comMSI's N580GTX Runs Cool and Silent, Just Add Waterhttp://www.maximumpc.com/article/news/msis_n580gtx_runs_cool_and_silent_just_add_water
<!--paging_filter--><p><img src="/files/u69/msi_n580gtx_hydrogen.jpg" width="282" height="227" style="float: right;" />If you subscribe the motto that air is for breathing, not for cooling, then MSI's new <a href="http://www.msi.com/news-media/news/1179.html">N580GTX HydroGen</a> is exactly the type of videocard that should float your water cooling boat. MSI ditched the reference air cooling solution and replaced it with its own proprietary HydroGen all-copper waterblock. The rest is up to you. Stick it in your water cooled rig, pop the tubes on the in/outlets, turn on the pump, and enjoy seeing those temps drop by as much as 24C over that of Billy's reference card.</p>
<p>The custom all-copper waterblock boasts a large surface area so that it covers both the GPU and memory. And if you squint hard enough (and have super human vision), you'll notice microscopic water channels measuring 0.45 mm wide throughout the GPU area. This Micro-Channel technology, as MSI calls it, is supposed to speed up water flow, which in turn aids heat dissipation.</p>
<p>With temps at up to 24C cooler than a stock card, MSI invites you to play around with its Afterburner overclocking software. With it, you can adjust clockspeeds, tweak the GPU voltage, and monitor core temps and memory usage.</p>
<p>No word on when the <a href="http://www.msi.com/product/vga/N580GTX-HydroGen-OC.html">N580GTX HydroGen</a> will ship or for how much.</p>
<h5>Image Credit: MSI</h5>
http://www.maximumpc.com/article/news/msis_n580gtx_runs_cool_and_silent_just_add_water#commentsBuild a PCcoolinggeforcegpugtx 580Hardwarehydrogenmsin580gtxnvidiavideocardwater coolingwaterblockNewsThu, 10 Feb 2011 14:30:34 +0000Paul Lilly17116 at http://www.maximumpc.comOverclocker Pushes GTX 580 to 1519MHzhttp://www.maximumpc.com/article/news/overclocker_pushes_gtx_580_1519mhz
<!--paging_filter--><p>Let's start with what a stock GeForce GTX 580 videocard should be running at. According to Nvidia, the GPU in the GTX 580 is rated to run 772MHz. Nvidia pegs the shader clock at 1544MHz, and the 1536MB of GDDR5 is supposed to run at 2004MHz (effective). What's the fun in that?</p>
<p>Sure, the GTX 580 is already the fastest single-GPU card on the planet, but that didn't stop overclocking guru Shamino, who works at Asus, from putting the <a href="http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=266036">pedal to the metal</a>. Shamino jumped straight into LN2 cooling, and by doing so he was able to crank the GPU all the way to 1519MHz, nearly doubling the stock clock. The memory, meanwhile, was pushed to 2500MHz.</p>
<p>The extreme cooling was necessary, both to accommodate the higher clockspeeds and the handful of volt mods Shamino made to the card.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img src="/files/u69/gtx_580_ln2_oc.jpg" width="405" height="304" /></p>
<p style="text-align: left;">Image Credit: Xtremesystems.org (LardArse)</p>
http://www.maximumpc.com/article/news/overclocker_pushes_gtx_580_1519mhz#commentsBuild a PCcoolinggtx 580Hardwareln2overclockvideocardNewsWed, 02 Feb 2011 16:53:47 +0000Paul Lilly16975 at http://www.maximumpc.comGainward Announces 3GB GeForce GTX 580 "Phantom"http://www.maximumpc.com/article/news/gainward_announces_3gb_geforce_gtx_580_phantom
<!--paging_filter--><p>Taking a cue from its parent company Palit, which itself has been known to slap more video RAM on a graphics card than the stock configuration calls for, Gainward today introduced its <a href="http://www.gainward.com/main/vgapro.php?id=454">GeForce GTX 580 3072MB Phantom<sup>3</sup></a>.</p>
<p>According to Gainward, that superscript is supposed to denote the "Phantom power of 3," which refers to the use of three PWM cooling fans underneath the ginormous heatsink. These are flanked by six "Gainward Grand Prix Heatpipes," each one 6mm in size. Gainward claims you'll see up to 12C lower temps compared to a stock GTX 580 during 3D heavy tasks, and up to 54 percent less noise during standby.</p>
<p>Other specs look more familiar, including 512 CUDA cores, 783MHz GPU, 1566MHz shader, 4020MHz memory, 384-bit bus, DX11 support, dual-DVI, HDMI, and DisplayPort.</p>
<p>No word yet on price or availability.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img src="/files/u69/gainward_gtx_580_phantom.jpg" width="405" height="243" /></p>
<h5 style="text-align: left;">Image Credit: Gainward</h5>
http://www.maximumpc.com/article/news/gainward_announces_3gb_geforce_gtx_580_phantom#commentsBuild a PCGainwardgeforcegpugtx 580HardwarePhantomvideocardNewsFri, 21 Jan 2011 16:53:07 +0000Paul Lilly16783 at http://www.maximumpc.comNvidia Rolls Out GeForce 262.99 Drivershttp://www.maximumpc.com/article/news/nvidia_rolls_out_geforce_26299_drivers
<!--paging_filter--><p>Now that Nvidia has gone and launched its GeForce GTX 580 videocard and stolen back the single-GPU performance crown, the GPU maker thought it wise to release a new set of drivers, version 262.99.</p>
<p>Unless you own one of Nvidia's new flagship cards, it doesn't look like there's much point in downloading the 262.99 drivers, unless you simply want the latest software for the sake of having it. All that really appears to be new, according to the <a href="http://us.download.nvidia.com/Windows/262.99/262.99_Win7_WinVista_Desktop_Release_Notes.pdf">release notes (PDF)</a>, is support for the GTX 580 part. There aren't any performance improvements or features added specific to the 262.99 release, or if there is, Nvidia decided to keep mum about them.</p>
<p>In any event, if you went and grabbed a GTX 580 or just won't sleep soundly until you have the latest GeForce drivers, benefits be damned, you can download them <a href="http://www.nvidia.com/Download/index.aspx?lang=en-us">here</a>.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img src="/files/u69/NvidiaLogo.png" alt="" width="350" height="262" /></p>
http://www.maximumpc.com/article/news/nvidia_rolls_out_geforce_26299_drivers#comments269.99Driversgeforcegtx 580nvidiaSoftwareSoftware NewsvideocardNewsWed, 10 Nov 2010 16:53:10 +0000Paul Lilly15550 at http://www.maximumpc.comGTX 580 Lab Test: The Real Fermi Arriveshttp://www.maximumpc.com/article/features/gtx_580_lab_test_real_fermi_arrives
<!--paging_filter--><p><strong>Nvidia’s GeForce GTX 580 is what the original should have been: quieter, full-featured, faster and more efficient.</strong></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img src="/files/u57670/gtx580_iso_sm.jpg" alt="" width="405" height="269" /></p>
<p>When Nvidia launched the GTX 480 -- code-named the GF100 -- early this year, the new GPU proved to be something of a mixed bag. It was undeniably fast, but also crippled – every GTX 480 GPU shipped with a full functional unit disabled. Whether that was because of yield or power issues wasn’t clear. Power clearly was a problem – Nvidia’s flagship ran hot and loud.</p>
<p>Given the competition, Nvidia had to get Fermi out the door. Even before the original Fermi left the building, Nvidia’s engineers were heads-down, respinning and reengineering the GF100. The result is the GF110. The new GPU is, as Emperor Palpatine might put it, “fully operational”, with all functional units now enabled. Even with more transistors humming, the core clock speed’s been pumped up to 772 from the original 700 MHz. Memory clocks are now 1GHz, up from the stock GTX 480’s 924MHz.</p>
<h2>Features</h2>
<table style="cursor: default; width: 627px; height: 85px; border: 1px dashed #bbbbbb;" border="0">
<thead>
<tr>
<th class="head-empty" style="cursor: text; border: 1px dashed #bbbbbb;"></th>
<th class="head-light" style="cursor: text; border: 1px dashed #bbbbbb;">GTX 480</th>
<th class="head-light" style="cursor: text; border: 1px dashed #bbbbbb;">GTX 580</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td class="item" style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; cursor: text; margin: 8px; border: 1px dashed #bbbbbb;">Compute Cores</td>
<td class="item-dark" style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; cursor: text; margin: 8px; border: 1px dashed #bbbbbb;">480</td>
<td class="item-light" style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; cursor: text; margin: 8px; border: 1px dashed #bbbbbb;">512</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="item" style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; cursor: text; margin: 8px; border: 1px dashed #bbbbbb;">Texture Units</td>
<td class="item-dark" style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; cursor: text; margin: 8px; border: 1px dashed #bbbbbb;">56</td>
<td class="item-light" style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; cursor: text; margin: 8px; border: 1px dashed #bbbbbb;">64</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="item" style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; cursor: text; margin: 8px; border: 1px dashed #bbbbbb;">ROPs</td>
<td class="item-dark" style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; cursor: text; margin: 8px; border: 1px dashed #bbbbbb;">48</td>
<td class="item-light" style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; cursor: text; margin: 8px; border: 1px dashed #bbbbbb;">48</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="item" style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; cursor: text; margin: 8px; border: 1px dashed #bbbbbb;">Transistor Count</td>
<td class="item-dark" style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; cursor: text; margin: 8px; border: 1px dashed #bbbbbb;">3 Billion</td>
<td class="item-light" style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; cursor: text; margin: 8px; border: 1px dashed #bbbbbb;">3 Billion</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="item" style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; cursor: text; margin: 8px; border: 1px dashed #bbbbbb;">Core Clock</td>
<td class="item-dark" style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; cursor: text; margin: 8px; border: 1px dashed #bbbbbb;">700MHz</td>
<td class="item-light" style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; cursor: text; margin: 8px; border: 1px dashed #bbbbbb;">772MHz</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="item" style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; cursor: text; margin: 8px; border: 1px dashed #bbbbbb;">ALU Clock</td>
<td class="item-dark" style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; cursor: text; margin: 8px; border: 1px dashed #bbbbbb;">1401MHz</td>
<td class="item-light" style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; cursor: text; margin: 8px; border: 1px dashed #bbbbbb;">1544MHz</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="item" style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; cursor: text; margin: 8px; border: 1px dashed #bbbbbb;">Memory Clock</td>
<td class="item-dark" style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; cursor: text; margin: 8px; border: 1px dashed #bbbbbb;">924MHz</td>
<td class="item-light" style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; cursor: text; margin: 8px; border: 1px dashed #bbbbbb;">1000MHz</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="item" style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; cursor: text; margin: 8px; border: 1px dashed #bbbbbb;">GDDR5 VRAM</td>
<td class="item-dark" style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; cursor: text; margin: 8px; border: 1px dashed #bbbbbb;">1536MB</td>
<td class="item-light" style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; cursor: text; margin: 8px; border: 1px dashed #bbbbbb;">1536MB</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="item" style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; cursor: text; margin: 8px; border: 1px dashed #bbbbbb;">Memory Interface</td>
<td class="item-dark" style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; cursor: text; margin: 8px; border: 1px dashed #bbbbbb;">384-bit</td>
<td class="item-light" style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; cursor: text; margin: 8px; border: 1px dashed #bbbbbb;">384-bit</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="item" style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; cursor: text; margin: 8px; border: 1px dashed #bbbbbb;">Mfg. Process</td>
<td class="item-dark" style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; cursor: text; margin: 8px; border: 1px dashed #bbbbbb;">40nm</td>
<td class="item-light" style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; cursor: text; margin: 8px; border: 1px dashed #bbbbbb;">40nm</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="item" style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; cursor: text; margin: 8px; border: 1px dashed #bbbbbb;">Thermal Power</td>
<td class="item-dark" style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; cursor: text; margin: 8px; border: 1px dashed #bbbbbb;">250w</td>
<td class="item-light" style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; cursor: text; margin: 8px; border: 1px dashed #bbbbbb;">244W</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p>As you can see, power is down a bit, while the number of functional units and clock speeds are up.</p>
<p>The GF110’s designers took some time to tweak the paths through the GPU to streamline data flows. They also tweaked a few features, increasing overall FP16 texture performance, among other things. In addition, the card itself now has a new cooling subsystem, including a redesigned fan and a vapor chamber (replacing the heat pipes in the GTX 480). Even the shroud surrounding the cooler has been revamped, with the fan recessed slightly and the rear edge beveled more, which increases airflow and cooling effectiveness in SLI setups when cards are mounted very close to each other.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img src="/files/u57670/small_vaporchamber.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="295" /></p>
<h4 style="text-align: center;">The GTX 580 vapor chamber dissipates heat more efficiently than the old heat pipes on the GTX 480.</h4>
<p>The overall result is less obtrusive fan noise under load. Nvidia estimates the acoustics to be about 5dBA down relative to the GTX 480 and even lower than the GTX 285. We noticed during our testing that the card is not only quieter, but the fan noise is at a different pitch, which is less annoying. This may be due to the fan redesign, which is more rigid due to a ring surrounding the fan blade structure.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img src="/files/u57670/small_gtx580_vs_gtx480_top.jpg" alt="" width="550" height="365" /></p>
<h4 style="text-align: center;"><strong>The lack of heat pipes on the GTX 580 is clearly visible here.</strong></h4>
<p><strong><br /></strong></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img src="/files/u57670/small_gtx580_vs_gtx480_closeup.jpg" alt="" width="550" height="365" /></p>
<h4 style="text-align: center;">The bigger, shallower bevel on the rear of the cooling shroud is part of the cooler redesign.</h4>
<h2>Performance</h2>
<p>So what we have is a faster Fermi, with all the functional units enabled, some internal tweaks to the architecture, all quieter and cooler. So how does it really perform? We took an Nvidia GTX 580 reference card and compared it to a stock GTX 480 from Asus, plus Radeon HD 5870, HD 5970 and the new Radeon HD 6870.</p>
<p>Note that the Radeon HD 5970 is a dual GPU card. While AMD’s CrossFireX performance and support has improved considerably with recent driver releases, performance is still dependent on CrossFireX scaling. Also, the HD 5970 is twelve inches long, which makes it a nonstarter in many mid-tower cases. Also, the XFX Radeon HD 5870 XXX edition is overclocked a bit, 3% on the core clock and 8% on memory. Keep that in mind as we take a look at the results.</p>
<p>All tests were run at 1920x1200, with 4x AA enabled. &nbsp;Our test system consisted of a Core i7 975 at 3.3GHz, with 6GB of DDR3/1333 memory, running on an Asus P6X58D Premium motherboard, with a Seagate 7200.12 1TB drive, an LG Blu-ray ROM drive, a Corsair TX850w 850W PSU, and Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit.</p>
<h3>3DMark Vantage and Unigine Heaven</h3>
<p>Let’s take a quick perusal at a couple of synthetic benchmarks. We don’t put much weight to these results, but it’s interesting to check them out.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img src="http://dl.maximumpc.com/galleries/GTX%20580/3dmarkvantage.png" alt="" width="591" height="430" /></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="text-align: center; "><img src="http://dl.maximumpc.com/galleries/GTX%20580/unigineheaven.png" alt="" width="591" height="430" /></p>
<p>The 3DMark Vantage test was run at the highest quality “extreme” mode, which isn’t particularly extreme by today’s standards. While the Radeon HD 5970 edges out the GTX 580, this is the fastest score we’ve seen with a single GPU card on our test system.</p>
<p>We expected the GTX 580 to be what Nvidia likes to call a “tessellation monster”, and if the Heaven 2.1 scores are any indication, it certainly is. What we also see here is a difference in philosophy on how to handle tessellation. AMD likes to focus their sweet spot for tessellation on 16-pixel triangles, so when you crank up Heaven’s tessellation factor, it stretches the Radeon cards past that sweet spot. So Nvidia’s cards come out on top.</p>
<p>But what we really care about is performance on real games. Let’s first take a look at DirectX 10 performance, then.</p>
<h3>DirectX 10 Gaming Performance</h3>
<p>The games we tested for DX10 performance include Far Cry 2 (two different scenes), Just Cause 2 (the Concrete Jungle benchmark), Tom Clancy’s HAWX and the aging, but still gorgeous, Crysis.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="text-align: center; "><img src="http://dl.maximumpc.com/galleries/GTX%20580/crysis.png" alt="" width="591" height="430" /></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="text-align: center; "><img style="border: 0;" src="http://dl.maximumpc.com/galleries/GTX%20580/farcry2long.png" alt="" width="591" height="430" /></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="text-align: center; "><img style="border: 0;" src="http://dl.maximumpc.com/galleries/GTX%20580/farcry2action.png" alt="" width="591" height="430" /></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="text-align: center; "><img style="border: 0;" src="http://dl.maximumpc.com/galleries/GTX%20580/hawx.png" alt="" width="591" height="430" /></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="text-align: center; "><img style="border: 0;" src="http://dl.maximumpc.com/galleries/GTX%20580/justcause2.png" alt="" width="591" height="430" /></p>
<p>By this time, Crysis has been thoroughly studied and drivers optimized by the GPU manufacturers. Even so, the GTX 580 finally manages to best the XFX Radeon HD 5870, though the dual-GPU 5970 crushes Crysis. The HD 5970 also manages top scores in Just Cause 2.</p>
<p>The same can’t be said for HAWX or either of the Far Cry 2 benchies. The GTX 580 just edges out the dual GPU HD 5970 in these games. Note that the GTX 580 crushes the single GPU Radeons in all these tests.</p>
<p>So the GTX 580 looks like a beast in DirectX 10. Now let’s move on to DirectX 11 performance results.</p>
<h3>DirectX 11 Gaming Performance</h3>
<p>The DX11 games we tested are a mixed bag. Some, like the recently released Tom Clancy’s HAWX 2 and Metro 2033, make heavy use of DX11 features. HAWX2, in particular, uses DX11 hardware tessellation very heavily. Others, like BattleForge, DiRT2, Aliens vs Predator or Call of Pripyat, use DX11 features a little more judiciously.&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="text-align: center; "><img style="border: 0;" src="http://dl.maximumpc.com/galleries/GTX%20580/battleforge.png" alt="" width="591" height="430" /></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="text-align: center; "><img style="border: 0;" src="http://dl.maximumpc.com/galleries/GTX%20580/stalker.png" alt="" width="591" height="430" /></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="text-align: center; "><img style="border: 0;" src="http://dl.maximumpc.com/galleries/GTX%20580/dirt2.png" alt="" width="591" height="430" /></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="text-align: center; "><img style="border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; " src="http://dl.maximumpc.com/galleries/GTX%20580/avp.png" alt="" width="591" height="430" /></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="text-align: center; "><img style="border: 0;" src="http://dl.maximumpc.com/galleries/GTX%20580/metro2033.png" alt="" width="591" height="430" /></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="text-align: center; "><img style="border: 0;" src="http://dl.maximumpc.com/galleries/GTX%20580/hawx2.png" alt="" width="591" height="430" /></p>
<p>HAWX 2 uses tessellation in an extreme way, but the result is gorgeously rendered, near-photorealistic landscapes. Fermi’s ability to tessellate and render down to very small meshes plays very well in this test.</p>
<p>Metro 2033 was also interesting, mostly because of how poorly the single GPU Radeon HD 5870 fared. This result was repeatable, and we’re not quite sure what’s going on, since the newer HD 6870 managed a reasonable, if low score.&nbsp;</p>
<p>In most of the rest of the benchmarks, the GTX 580 gave the dual GPU Radeon HD 5970 a run for its money, either winning outright or coming very close.</p>
<h2>Power</h2>
<p>So how much power does the card consume? Given Nvidia’s specs, it should be close to the power consumption of the GTX 480. Here’s what we found.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="text-align: center; "><img style="border: 0;" src="http://dl.maximumpc.com/galleries/GTX%20580/power.png" alt="" width="591" height="430" /></p>
<p>Yes, the GTX 580 continues Fermi’s high power consumption, but at least it eats watts more politely and quietly. Performance per watt is higher, too, given the better benchmark results we’ve seen in our testing. Still, it’s impressive how even the dual GPU Radeon HD 5970 uses less power under full load than the GTX 580.</p>
<h2>Final Thoughts: the Price of Speed</h2>
<p>As we’ve seen, Nvidia’s GTX 580 is clearly the fastest single GPU card on the market today. Given that we’re looking at an early reference sample, it’s likely that we’ll see factory overclocked cards emerge in the next several months, pushing performance up even further.</p>
<p>However, the price for this level of single GPU goodness is steep. Nvidia’s suggested pricing for the GTX 580 is $499. As always happens when a new GPU arrives, we start to see price moves by the competition. Radeon HD 5870s are now down to under $350 (under $340 in some cases.) The Radeon HD 6870, which is just a little slower, but more efficient, than the HD 5870, is under $250.</p>
<p>Even the somewhat scarce Radeon HD 5970 is seeing price drops. You can pick up a Sapphire Radeon HD 5970 for&nbsp;<a href="http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102887&amp;cm_re=HD_5970-_-14-102-887-_-Product">$499</a>, $469 after a $30 rebate. AMD also likes to refer to the HIS HD 5970, but that’s listed as “deactivated” on Newegg. However, other HD 5970s remain either very expensive or unavailable. Really, AMD’s real answer to the GF110, code-named Cayman, isn’t out yet. The Radeon HD 5970 really isn’t a mainstream card.</p>
<p>Of course, we don’t know what the yields are on GF110 yet, or what availability will be. Cards from companies like eVGA and Asus will likely be slightly north of the $499 price point, at least initially.&nbsp;</p>
<p>On the other hand, the GTX 580 is still 10.5 inches long, so will fit in more modest cases than an HD 5970. Nvidia recommends a 600W PSU for a single GTX 580. Given what we’ve seen with our performance tests, you don’t really need more than one card for a typical 1920x1200 or 1920x1080 display. But if you want three displays, particularly three displays coupled with Nvidia’s 3D Vision stereoscopic 3D glasses, you’ll want two – but the much more modestly priced GTX 470 might work just as well in those scenarios.</p>
<p>So Fermi – the real Fermi – has arrived. It’s still pricey and power hungry, but quieter and performs much better. We’re looking forward to checking out retail cards, but for now, the fully operational GTX 580 should delight gamers with deep pockets.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
http://www.maximumpc.com/article/features/gtx_580_lab_test_real_fermi_arrives#commentsbenchmarksfermigtx 580Video CardFeaturesTue, 09 Nov 2010 14:30:06 +0000Loyd Case15501 at http://www.maximumpc.comNvidia Previews Next Generation GPU Technologyhttp://www.maximumpc.com/article/news/nvidia_previews_next_generation_gpu_technology
<!--paging_filter--><p>Nvidia made a splash at PDXLAN over the weekend showcasing "Unreleased NV Technology," which many presume refers to the company's upcoming GeForce GTX 580 part. Pictures and videos have since flooded the Web, like the ones that appear on <a href="http://gamersdailynews.com/story-20759-Nvidia-Shows-Off-Unreleased-Technology-at-Pdxlan-165.html">GamersDailyNews.com</a>.</p>
<p>One of the big things Nvidia is touting is its new vapor chamber technology. Using a custom vapor chamber design to handle cooling chores, Nvidia says its next-gen card runs both cooler and quieter than a GTX 480.</p>
<p>The lengthy videos showcase what's likely a GTX 580 videocard in action, everything from high polygon counts to <em>Call of Duty: Black Ops</em>. Check em out below.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oCPMHIDpT88&amp;feature=player_embedded#!">Video 1</a> (courtesy of RumorPedia.net)<br /><a href="http://gamersdailynews.com/video-2914-NVIDIA-Call-of-Duty-Black-Ops-Demo-PDXLAN-165--Part-1-of-2.html">Video 2</a> (courtesy of GamersDailyNews.com)<br /><a href="http://gamersdailynews.com/video-2916-NVIDIA-Call-of-Duty-Black-Ops-Demo-PDXLAN-165--Part-2-of-2.html">Video 3</a> (courtesy of GamersDailyNews.com)</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img src="/files/u69/nv_vapor_chamber.jpg" alt="" width="405" height="324" /></p>
<h5 style="text-align: left;">Image Credit: rumorpedia.net</h5>
http://www.maximumpc.com/article/news/nvidia_previews_next_generation_gpu_technology#commentsgeforcegpugraphicsgtx 580HardwarenvidiapdxlantechnologyvideocardNewsMon, 08 Nov 2010 14:30:09 +0000Paul Lilly15488 at http://www.maximumpc.comNvidia Improves Cooler Design for GTX 580http://www.maximumpc.com/article/news/nvidia_improves_cooler_design_gtx_580
<!--paging_filter--><p>Nvidia has taken its fair share of heat over, well, the heat output of its high-end Fermi cards, namely the GeForce GTX 480. According to news and rumor site Fudzilla, you can expect the upcoming GTX 580 to<a href="http://fudzilla.com/graphics/item/20709-geforce-gtx-580-has-a-better-cooler"> run a little bit cooler</a> and quieter.</p>
<p>This won't be the result of any major architectural changes, as the GPU will still run hot with a TDP approaching 250W. Instead, Nvidia chose to tweak its cooler design so that it runs more efficiently, essentially sweeping the heat output under the carpet, if you will.</p>
<p>We'll find out soon enough how effective the new design is. Fudzilla says the GTX 580 will <a href="http://fudzilla.com/graphics/item/20706-geforce-gtx580-launch-on-9th-nov-sampling-now">launch</a> in the morning hours of November 9, exactly one week from today.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img src="/files/u69/gtx_580_leak.jpg" alt="" width="405" height="187" /></p>
http://www.maximumpc.com/article/news/nvidia_improves_cooler_design_gtx_580#commentsBuild a PCcoolinggeforcegpugraphicsgtx 580HardwarenvidiavideocardNewsTue, 02 Nov 2010 14:21:20 +0000Paul Lilly15400 at http://www.maximumpc.comNvidia Inadvertently Confirms GTX 580http://www.maximumpc.com/article/news/nvidia_inadvertently_confirms_gtx_580
<!--paging_filter--><p>We've been hearing rumors that Nvidia's GeForce GTX 580 videocard will be based on the company's 40nm GF110 GPU with 512 CUDA cores and GDDR5 memory, however Nvidia hasn't yet officially announced the card.</p>
<p>That's okay, because team green all but confirmed the existence of the upcoming part when the company's overzealous web monkeys <a href="http://www.nvidia.co.uk/object/GeForce_3D_Vision_Requirements_uk.html">listed</a> the GTX 580 on Nvidia's 3D Vision System Requirements page (UK version).</p>
<p>Nvidia has since erased the GTX 580 from the page, but hey, this is the Internet and there's no such thing as a do-over (check out the Print Screen capture below). The GTX 580 will do battle with AMD's upcoming Cayman-based Radeon HD 6900 series graphics cards.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img src="/files/u69/gtx_580_screenie.jpg" alt="" width="405" height="190" /></p>
http://www.maximumpc.com/article/news/nvidia_inadvertently_confirms_gtx_580#commentsBuild a PCgeforcegpugtx 580HardwarenvidiavideocardNewsFri, 22 Oct 2010 14:54:23 +0000Paul Lilly15216 at http://www.maximumpc.com